BURNING HEAT
By David Burnsworth

Having read the first book, Southern Heat, and really liked the characters, I couldn’t wait to meet them again and see what calamity they fell into this time.

Let me introduce you to the main character, Brack Preston. He’s an Afghanistan War veteran, a man of independent means after inheriting his uncles estate, which includes a little cottage with a million dollar view of the ocean and a ramshackle bar, the Pirate’s Cove. His best and most loyal companion is his dog, Shelby. Next is his friend Mutt, owner of a rundown bar in the bad part of Charleston. You’ll also get to know Brother Thomas, a preacher as big as a grizzly with the heart of a teddy bear, until you get him riled up.

There’s also Darcy Coates, a reporter and friend who helped solve his uncles murder and took a bullet for it. Her and Brack do a two step around their feelings. Maybe this time we’ll see where that goes.

From the gritty digs of poverty to the glitz of affluence, Brack butts heads, stirs up several hornet’s nests, and dodges bullet.

He can’t walk away when a girl takes a bullet for him. Especially when her body disappears. Brother Thomas asks him to dig into it, and along with Mutt, Darcy, and a few old and new friends, you get dragged along, thrown in front of bullets, enter neighborhoods the police won’t even venture into, and race around in some very expensive cars.

What charms me with both of these books is Brack’s affection for his dog, Shelby. When things get dicey, he has one person he trusts to take care of the dog. And he always finds time to spend with him until it’s safe to bring him home again. Friends say Shelby is his chick magnet. I can see that.

There’s more than one plot in this story. Someone is trying to kill Brack. Someone is always trying to do that, it seems. And his bar is being sabotaged.

As you get closer to the end of the book, it all comes together. And I was truly surprised by the actual killer. The character never stood out and the motive was as old as time. Should have thought of that.

Another winner in this series and I can only hope it continues.

5 Stars

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Synopsis

As darkness blankets the holy city of Charleston, South Carolina, Brack Pelton, an Afghanistan War veteran, steps out of a rundown bar after a long night. Before he gets to his truck, he finds himself in the middle of a domestic dispute between a man and a woman on the sidewalk. When a little girl joins the couple and gets hit by the man, Brack intervenes and takes him down. But the abuser isn’t finished. He pulls a gun and shoots the woman. Brack saves the little girl, but his world has just been rocked. Again.

The next day, while sitting on a barstool in the Pirate’s Cove on the Isle of Palms, his own bar, Brack scans the local paper. The news headline reads: Burned Body of Unidentified Hispanic Man Found at Construction Site. Nothing about a dead woman in the poor section of town. Brack feels a tap on his shoulder and turns around to see an eight-year-old girl standing behind him. She’s the little girl he rescued the night before, and she wants him to look into her sister’s shooting.

Violence and danger make up Brack’s not-too-distant past. Part of him craves it–needs it. And that part has just been fed. Things are about to heat up again in the lowcountry. May God have mercy on the souls who get in the way.

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About This Author

David Burnsworth became fascinated with the Deep South at a young age. After a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and fifteen years in the corporate world, he made the decision to write a novel. Southern Heat is his first mystery. Having lived in Charleston on Sullivan’s Island for five years, the setting was a foregone conclusion. He and his wife along with their dog call South Carolina home.